What Happens in High School
by bethchilds34
Summary: High School fic, will contain all characters eventually. Ever wonder what the characters of NCIS would be like in high school? Read to find out. Eventual Tiva. R&R thanks guys! T because I can!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, guys! I'm back again, with a new fic! I know, I just keep coming out with these things, don't I? and I still have a bunch of other fics that I'm working on, never fear! There will be updates soon! I got the idea for this one day in school and I started writing it down in third person. As you might notice reading this, it's in first person POV. I decided that I cannot write in third person, so I made a few changes and this is what I got. **

**Okay, so this is a high school fic, and this chapter features Eli and Ziva David, Ari Hasswari, Tony DiNozzo, and Abby, who is a DiNozzo here (will be explained). I've read some amazing high school fics, and I've wanted to write one for a while, so here goes. I want some feedback, guys! Please review telling me what you think, favorite lines, if I should continue or just end it here, ect. Thanks! You are all amazing!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. I do, however, own this plotline and any changes I made to anything here. Anything I may have changed here, such as the air port or anything else, sorry, a person only has so much time and besides, this is mine, so who are you to comment on that (sorry, tiny rant right there).**

**On with chapter one!**

"Hey, mom, is someone finally moving into the place next door?" I asked my mom, glancing out the window at the moving truck that had pulled up and parked outside the house next door that had been on the market for almost a year. I saw three people get out of the truck.

"Hhmm, I guess they are. Tony, I have to go get ready for work. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" my mom said. I nodded and she ruffled my hair on her way out of the living room. She paused in the doorway and said, "Don't forget to pick up Abby tonight. Her flight gets in at eight." Abby had been away at some science camp for the last three weeks in Florida and the house had been pretty quiet without her. Since the camp was so far from Virginia, she had to fly there and back.

"I won't forget," I promised her and she left the room. I turned back to the window, looking out at the people next door. There was a middle-aged man, a boy in his late teens or early twenties, and a girl who looked to be my age, maybe a little younger. She was very pretty, with her long brown hair pulled up in a messy pony tail, a button-up plaid shirt on over a tee shirt, jeans, and work boots on her feet. The boy was wearing almost the same thing as the girl, and the man was wearing a suit. I couldn't stop staring at the girl; even though she wasn't wearing the most flattering cloths, she was beautiful.

I debated for a minute about whether or not to go outside and introduce myself. If Abby had been home, she would have pushed me out the door, telling me to be polite and not push people away like I usually did. When the two men disappeared inside the house, I got up the nerve to go out and say hello. I walked out the front door and headed towards the girl, who was in the truck.

She looked up when she saw me coming towards her. I figured now was a good a time as ever to say something. "Hi," was all I could come up with. I stuffed my handing into the pockets of my jeans. She was much prettier up close.

The girl hopped out of the back of the truck and gave me a once-over before saying, "Hello."

I glanced at my outfit, it was nothing out of the ordinary. I was wearing a navy blue tee shirt, jeans, and black Converse sneakers. My hair, which was neither brown nor blonde, was a little shaggy, falling just below my ears. "My name's Tony. Tony DiNozzo. I live next door," I told her and pointed to my house, feeling a little stupid that that was all I could come up with on the spot.

"Ziva David," she introduced herself.

"Where are you from?" I asked. I thought I heard a slight accent in her voice, but I couldn't place it.

"Israel," she told me. "We just moved here." She leaned into the truck and pulled out a box.

"That's a long way to come. Hey, do you need help with that?" I asked. The box looked heavy, I could tell because she looked like she was about to drop it.

"No, I have it," she said.

"Do you want help with anything?" I asked, genuinely wanting to help. The truck was full of boxes and furniture and with only three people, it would take at least an hour to finish unpacking it. Four wasn't much better, but it would help.

Ziva looked at me like I was crazy. "You want to help?" she asked me. "I do not know if…" She didn't get to finish her sentence because the two men came back out of the house then.

"Ziva," the older man said, coming up to stand behind her. "Who is this?"

"Papa, this is Tony DiNozzo. He lives next door," Ziva introduced me.

The man looked at me and, like Ziva, gave me a once-over before half-smiling and holding out his hand to me. "Eli David," he said.

"Anthony DiNozzo, but you can call me Tony," I said, even though Ziva had already told the man my name.

"I see you have already met Ziva. And this is my son, Ari," Eli said, putting a hand on Ari's shoulder. "So, Anthony, how old are you?" he asked me.

"Seventeen," I said.

"So you and Ziva will be in the same grade. She will be seventeen in a few months. Do you go to Annapolis High School?" he asked me.

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Do you like it there?" he asked.

"It's alright. They offer a lot of different classes and we had a great basketball team last winter," I told him.

"You play?"

"Point guard. They let me into the varsity team last winter. They don't always take sophomores, so it was pretty cool," I said.

"When does the year start? I have to get Ziva registered," Eli said.

"The first Wednesday after Labor Day. They have a short first week to get students back into the swing of things and then they hit you with all the homework," I joked.

"So, that is, what, three weeks away?" Eli asked, doing mental math.

"Yeah," I said dejectedly. I didn't want summer to end.

"Do you have a job, Anthony?" Eli asked me.

"Father, what is this? Thirty Questions?" Ziva asked Eli.

"I am just trying to be a friendly neighbor, Ziva," Eli told his daughter.

"Ziva is right, Father. At this rate, we will not have the truck unpacked for days. And I leave in a week and three days. Do you think we could get moving on this?" Ari spoke up for the first time.

"You are right. Anthony, would you mind giving us a hand, if you do not have somewhere you need to be, that is?" Eli asked me. I was surprised, but I agreed.

"No, I don't have anywhere to be. My mom's leaving for work, so I'm alone for the rest of the afternoon. She's a nurse at the hospital and she has the graveyard shift every two weeks," I said.

"Well then, let's get moving so we can be done before sundown," Eli said.

Ziva and I were up in her room an hour later. The room she picked upstairs was painted white and it was full of boxes. We'd talked while we unpacked the truck and found out we had a few things in common. I now knew that she loved books, knew like five languages, her sister, who had died the year before, looked just like her, and her mother had died when she was little, and after that it was her responsibility to take care of Tali, her sister.

I told her about me as well. I told her about my twin sister, Abby, and my mom, and my dad, what I could remember of him anyway. He'd walked out when Abby and I were eight, leaving us with our mom to take care of us. He sent child support, most of the time, but his obligation would be up in eleven months, when Abby and I turned eighteen.

It was a comfortable conversation, even talking about the hard things, like our parents and her sister, but we had a few laughs as well. As good as Ziva's English was, it wasn't perfect, and she messed up a few idioms, and I corrected them when she did. She laughed at all the movies I quoted, which was a lot, and it was also something that people had never really done before. Most people just wrote off my movie quotes, or told me to stop, but Ziva was different.

When we decided to take a break, I checked the time on my cell phone. It was already six o'clock and it took an hour and a half to get to the air port. I looked up at Ziva, who was looking at me. "I have to get going," I told her.

"I thought you said your mother was at work," she said.

"Abby's coming home tonight from science camp. It's in Florida, so she has to fly up and I have to go pick her up at the air port," I explained. I didn't really want to leave Ziva's house right now, we were having a lot of fun, but Abby needed to be picked up and she was my obligation tonight.

"Oh," was all Ziva said. "I understand."

"Hey," I said, getting an idea and smiling at Ziva. "How about you come with me? I could show you some sights and you're probably starving. We'll get dinner and you can meet Abby," I offered.

Ziva smiled too. "I would like that," she said.

"Do you think your dad would mind?" I asked, nervously. Eli David didn't seem like the kind of person you'd want to piss off.

"No, he will not. So, you drive?" she asked me as we headed out of her room and down the stairs, her in the lead.

"Yeah. Abby and I share a car, so I can't always go out, but we make it work. It's been all mine the past three weeks, but I've had almost nowhere to go," I said.

Eli and Ari were in the living room, fixing things as best they could before the second shipment of their things, which would be at least another truckload.

"Papa?" Ziva said when we walked into the room. Both of them looked at us. "Do you mind if I go with Tony to go pick up his sister at the air port? I will be back by ten, I think."

"Yes, go ahead. Do you need money for food while you are out?" her father asked, going for his wallet in his jacket pocket. When he pulled aside his jacket, I noticed he was carrying a side arm.

"No, sir, it's alright. I have enough money. It's no problem," I told him. I'd mowed lawns for a lot of the summer and babysat the kids down the street a few times. And I hadn't gone out a lot this summer, so I had some money in my wallet.

"If you are sure, Anthony. Thank you. Keep her safe," Mr. David said.

"Yes, sir," I told him.

"Shalom, father," Ziva said.

"Shalom, tatelah," he said back, smiling at her.

Ziva and I walked out the door and headed down the sidewalk towards my house. "I just have to run upstairs before we go to get some stuff. You wanna come up?" I asked as we walked in the front door. "It would only be fair, seeing as I've been in your room today."

She laughed. "I will come up," she said.

"I have to warn you, my room's a little messy," I told her.

"I do not think it could be worse than mine," she laughed.

"I don't know about that…" I said, opening the door. There were things all over the place, covering every surface, clothes, DVDs, CDs. "See what I mean?" I asked.

"I think we are equal," Ziva said.

I walked over to my dresser and started putting things in my pockets, keys, my wallet, and my iPod so that I could hook it up in the car. Then I went to my desk where I had a pile of clean clothes that I hadn't bothered to put away. I rifled through the pile until I found a sweatshirt.

"Hey, I forgot to remind you to grab a sweatshirt, it's gonna get a little chilly," I told her.

"I do not even know if I have any with me. I just did not think…" she said.

"No problem. You can just borrow one. Here," I said, holding out the one I'd pulled out of the pile. It was my basketball sweatshirt from this past season and it had my last name written on the left arm with my number, 08.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course. Ziva, it's no problem, really," I said, holding it out further until she reached out and took it.

"Thank you," she said.

"No problem," I said, grabbing one from the foot of my bed. It was plain black while the one I'd given her was navy blue with maroon writing, the school colors. "Let's go," I said. "Abby'll kill me if I'm late."

In the car, we talked about random things, such as school and our favorite music and I played her some of my favorites. We had the windows rolled down and the music turned up as loud as we could stand it and we were singing at the tops of our lungs, me badly and off-key, her better than she thought. The people we passed on the high way were staring at us.

When the wind turned cold, we put our sweatshirts on and rolled the windows up a bit. We got to the air port forty minutes before Abby's plane was supposed to land; they'd gotten delayed on her layover in Atlanta. So Ziva and I decided to find some food, because it was seven thirty and we were both starving.

We ended up getting food from A&W, the most American place there was around. We both got burgers and fries because I told Ziva she needed to have some 'real American food' for her first meal in America. She just laughed at me, but ordered it anyway.

We got to baggage claim at eight ten, just before Abby's plane was supposed to land. "You ready to meet the crazy twin?" I asked Ziva.

"I thought I already had," she laughed.

**A/N: Okay, so what did everyone think about this? To everyone who gave this the time of day, I appreciate that so much! Please review and tell me what you think! I accept anonymous reviews, so anyone can send feedback! Please, no flames, if you don't like it, just tell me what I did wrong and how you feel I could fix it. Thanks guys!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow, two chapters in as many days. This is shock for all of us, people! I got inspired today and this was what happened. This will probably not happen again, two chapters, not to mention two long-ish chapters, in as many days. School's been keeping me busy, so please stick with me if I don't update for a few weeks at a time. I'm loving this fic and the freedom I have writing it, but school comes first, and my mom would definitely agree. So I can't let my grades slide at all.**

**So, this chapter is just a continuation of the last chapter, starting right where the other one left off. Please review, guys! It would make me really happy and maybe give me incentive to put chapter three up sooner (as soon as I write it, that is)! Thanks guys! And thank you to everyone who reviewed or put me on Author/Story Alert, or added me as Favorite Author or Favorite Story! It really means the world to me! But please try to review! Even if it's just a couple of words, it's the thought that counts!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it, such as characters. I do own this plot line and anything I choose to change. I'm trying to stay as real to the show as I can, knowing what little we know about these characters in their teens!**

The board on the wall that Ziva and I were standing in front of said that Abby's flight had landed, but we didn't see Abby anywhere. Five more minutes later, we finally saw people walking out of security and heading down the escalator towards us. I saw Abby then.

"That's my sister," I pointed out to Ziva. "The one who looks like a goth. But she's not really a goth. She just likes the clothes."

"I see," Ziva said.

Abby didn't see me because we were standing in the middle of a huge crowd, so she moved immediately to the baggage caracal and starting looking for her bag, while simultaneously pulling out her phone. We'd agreed last week that I would come and pick her up and not be late, but she thought I was. My phone starting ringing, but I didn't answer it, I just grabbed Ziva's hand so I wouldn't lose her in the crowd and we made our way towards my sister.

She didn't see us because her back was turned, so when I got right behind her, I threw my arms around her small waist and said, "Hi, Abby! I missed you!" She almost screamed; I knew better than to scare her like that, but it was too good an opportunity.

"Tony!" she yelled when I let go of her and she turned around to face me. "Don't do that!"

Now people were staring at us. Abby attracts a lot of attention on her own because of the way she dresses, but in the air port, and the ruckus she was making, I was surprised I hadn't been taken down by five security guards and detained yet.

But I'd thought that too soon, because just then a police man walked up to me, forcefully putting a hand on my shoulder and pulling me away from my sister and Ziva.

"Young man, is there a problem here?" he asked me, getting right in my face.

"No, sir. I'm sorry, she's my sister and she scares easily and I know that. I just surprised her, that's all. Look," I said, pulling out my wallet. "Abs, can you show him your ID?" I asked over the cop's shoulder. Abby pulled out her wallet as well and handed it to the cop.

"Officer, he really is my brother. It's okay," she told the man.

The cop waited a few seconds before speaking. I was just waiting to see whether I'd be taken off in cuffs or not. "Alright," he finally said, "you're free to go. Just don't do that again, alright, son? I've got enough to deal with around here."

"Yes, sir. Thank you," I said to the man.

"Thank you, officer," Abby said, smiling at the man.

The man nodded his head towards Abby, gave me another stern look, and walked back to his post, shaking his head, probably muttering 'kids…' under his breath.

All Abby could do was laugh, when the cop got far enough away. Ziva stayed silent and then I remembered that I hadn't introduced her to Abby.

"Hey, Abby, this is Ziva," I said, pulling Ziva a little closer to Abby and I. "Ziva, this is my sister, Abby."

"How do you two know each other?" Abby asked.

"Ziva and her family just moved in next door," I explained.

"Oh my God, really? That's awesome! How old are you? What grade are you going into? How long have you lived there? How much have I missed this summer?" Abby asked in the only way she knew how: quickly.

Ziva smiled at her. "I am almost seventeen, I am going into eleventh grade, Tony called it junior year, I think. And we just moved in today," she answered. I was impressed that she could keep up with Abby, sometimes even I couldn't, and I'd grown up with her.

"Where are you from? Sorry, not trying to be rude. I just noticed an accent in your voice. Middle East?" Abby guessed.

"Yes, I am from Israel," Ziva told her.

"That's so cool!" Abby turned from Ziva to me. "_So_, I guess you two hit it off..." she said, trailing off at the end of her sentence suggestively.

"Yeah, Ziva's pretty cool. We've been hanging out all afternoon," I said.

"Tony has been very nice, helping us unload the moving truck and set things up in the house. My father and brother were very grateful for his help," Ziva said.

"It's so awesome that you live next door! I can tell we're gonna be friends, I'm just getting that vibe off you." Abby and Ziva both smiled and then Abby turned back to me. "Hey, Tony, I'm lie starving right now and I have like no cash on me. Can I borrow some and pay you back?" she asked.

I reached into my wallet and pulled out a twenty and handed it to her. "I got you this time. But next time we put gas in the car, you're paying. Deal?" I asked.

She snatched the bill. "Deal."

"You wanna eat here or on the road?" I asked.

"Anything good to eat here?" she asked.

"The regular places. But there is an A&W," I said. "We just ate there," I told her, indicating Ziva and me.

"Oh, let's go there," she said and starting walking off, leaving her luggage by my feet, knowing I'd take it for her. I shook my head and picked it up.

"She is… friendly," Ziva said when we had taken up post at a table near the A&W, waiting for Abby to get her food.

"Yeah… that's Abby. She's always like that," I explained. "Sorry if she comes on a bit strong."

"No, she is fine. Very different from you," Ziva commented.

"Am I supposed to take that as an insult, David?" I asked playfully.

"Maybe, DiNozzo. Maybe…" she said, smiling her beautiful smile at me.

On the way home, Abby drove, Ziva sat in the passenger seat, and I was in the seat behind Abby. I didn't mind handing over the keys to my sister, and it was nice not to have to drive out of the air port. The whole way home, Abby and Ziva were talking and laughing in the front seat and I closed my eyes in the back, leaning against the window.

I didn't know we'd gotten home until the sound of the motor shutting off woke me up.

"And he awakes!" Abby said, opening her door.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you guys," I apologized.

"It is fine. Abby and I really knocked it off," Ziva told me.

"I think you mean 'hit' it off," I corrected.

"Whatever. I am going home, Tony. Goodnight. Thank you for everything," she said and gave me a little wave goodbye. I raised my hand as well and followed Abby into the house. When I shut the door behind me, she bombarded me with questions.

"Oh my God, you like her, don't you? Have you asked her out yet? You've met her father and brother already? Tony, this is huge! I know she likes you too!" Abby exclaimed all in one breathe.

"Abby, chill, we're just friends. I only met her," I checked my watch, "seven hours ago. And yeah, so what, I met her dad and Ari. I helped them move in. it would be weird if I hadn't met them."

"Look, Tony, I'm just gonna wait till you stop denying you like her and ask her out. If it's any help, I know she likes you back. She told me about everything you guys did today and don't think I didn't notice her wearing your favorite basketball sweatshirt," Abby said. "She could barely get the words out, she was smiling so big just talking about you. And I'm pretty sure she kept fixing and messing with her hair just so she could glance back at you on the drive home."

I tried and failed not to blush, but I guessed Abby had had enough fun before because she didn't say anything. After a minute I asked, "Do you really think so?"

"That Ziva likes you? Yeah, I know it. I'm a girl, I know how girls think," she told me. "Hey, do you think you could do me a favor?" she asked.

"What?" I asked.

"Can you drive me over to Tim's? I'd just go, but he can get me home whenever, so you might as well keep the car," she said.

"You want me to drive you to your boyfriend's house at," I checked the time again, "quarter to eleven at night?" I asked her. Tim was a well-enough guy and Abby and I had known him since we were ten, but I didn't like the idea of her spending the night, though she'd done so before. They'd stay up for hours playing video games and just talking and then sleeping, as Tim had assured me countless times, in separate rooms.

"Tony, you know I haven't, nor will I at any time in the near future, sleep with Tim. I love him, and he loves me, but for right now, that's enough. We're waiting and I don't know what else I could possibly do to convince you of that. But I haven't seen him in three weeks and he called me when I got off the plane and asked if I could come over, and I told him I'd try. So, please?" she asked, giving her puppy dog face that seemed to work every time with me. She'd figured that out when we were little and wanted me to cover for her if she'd broken anything.

I sighed, knowing she was right; you couldn't force Abby to do anything she didn't want, and I knew Tim never would, he was a gentleman. "Okay, Abs, I'll take you," I said.

"Thank you, Tony! I just have to grab some stuff and I'll be ready in like two minutes," she said, handing the keys back to me, hugging me, and grabbing her bag and running upstairs to her room.

I went into the kitchen and grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge, knowing that if I only grabbed one for myself, Abby would drink down half of it before I could blink. She came back downstairs with an over-night bag and her laptop case.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

When I got back from dropping Abby off and finally got home for good, it was ten minutes to midnight. But after having slept in the car, I was feeling more awake than I should have at that point. I lay down in bed and thought about all the fun I'd had today: meeting Ziva, hanging out with her all afternoon, picking Abby up at the air port.

I was sad summer was almost over, but ready for the new school year. Gibbs, our basketball coach, had said that we would start training early this year, in mid-October, because he wanted us all ready for the winter season. We'd all groaned when he'd called a meeting on the last day of school and told us. But I was happy because basketball was something I loved and hoped to get a scholarship with to college.

I fell asleep dreaming about the finals we'd been in this past February, but this was a little different than the actual game, because Ziva was in the crowd too.

**A/N: So, what did you think? Review worthy? It would mean a lot to me if you did drop one, even if it's just your favorite line, favorite part, part you liked, something I should add in future chapters. I'm open to any ideas, since I have no beta because she's freakishly busy with schoolwork right now. Thank you for reading, guys! Don't forgot about me if I don't update for a little while; extenuating circumstances get in the way of my writing all the time. But the more reviews I get, the more motivated I may be to update quicker!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, what is this? Three chapters in three days? Insanity! I know! Just so everyone knows, this like never happens, ever. But I've gotten really into this fic, which is why these chapters are getting up so fast! I'm a little disappointed by the lack of reviews, but hey, that's life I guess. I do appreciate all the reviews I've gotten and hope to get some more! Send me stuff guys! Anything! Well, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it, such as characters. I do own this plot line and anything I choose to change. I'm trying to stay as real to the show as I can, knowing what little we know about these characters in their teens!**

The sun was out when I woke up in the morning and it was shining directly in my face because I hadn't bothered to close my shade last night. Glancing at my alarm clock on the table next to my bed, I saw it was only even thirty, no wonder I was still tired. I got up anyway, figuring that by the time I got up and closed the curtain, I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I may as well get up for good.

I changed out of my clothes from yesterday and threw on the first relatively clean clothes I found, a sleeveless gray tee shirt and black shorts, and went downstairs. Today was supposed to be really hot out and I couldn't decide how I felt about that. I like the warm weather, but anything above ninety five degrees is over kill in my opinion.

I made a bowl of cereal and flopped down on the couch with it, leaving the TV off, knowing there was nothing on on a Wednesday in morning in the middle of summer.

I knew today was going to be a quiet day; mom would be sleeping till noon at least and I didn't even know if Abby would be home from Tim's or not. She had spent a good portion of the summer there. She and Tim had been practically inseparable since they met when we were ten and when they started going out when they were fourteen and we were in our freshman year of high school, their dynamic didn't really change all that much. If Abby's best friend, Kate, ever wanted to hang out, Abby wouldn't blow her off. Abby and Kate were almost as close as Abby and me, meaning I knew Kate really well, and I practically considered her a sister. But I only had one sister that I could go all big-brother on when they got a boyfriend, because Kate was the youngest of five, with three older brothers to do that job. But I was still really protective of Abby, even though I knew Tim wouldn't try anything stupid.

I took my phone out of the pocket of my shorts, knowing that anybody I'd want to text would still be asleep, as I should have been. But when I got to the last number in my contact list, I stopped. Before, the last number there had been my cousin, Vicky, but now there was a new one that I hadn't put in. Ziva.

I smiled to myself, knowing I hadn't seen her put it in, and I knew she didn't tell me she had. _Maybe Abby was right…_ I thought. I decided to text Ziva.

**And to think, I didn't see you ninja your number into my phone** I sent.

Not really expecting a reply, I tossed the phone onto the couch next to me and ate another spoonful of cereal. A minute later my phone went off, signaling that I had a new text. I opened it and read the message.

**Impressed?**

I laughed, shook my head, and answered, **Your ninja skills are definitely up to par.**

**Par?** I got back a few seconds later.

**Up to standard. Good.** I sent back.

I got a smilie face in response and didn't know how to respond to it. Before I got a chance to type anything, I got another message from her. **I still have your sweatshirt from last night.**

**Keep it. **I sent back without a second thought.

**I cannot do that. It is yours.** She texted.

**I have other sweatshirts. If you don't want to keep it, just hold onto it for a while. It'll be getting cooler soon and you need to be warm.**

**If you are sure…** she sent to me.

**I am. So, what are you doing today?** I asked.

**Probably nothing. My father and Ari had to go to Ari's university to deal with some things and will not be back for hours. You? **

**At home. Bored. Nothing to do.** I answered.

**Want to hang out?** She asked.

**I don't know… You live really far away… Okay, you've twisted my arm. What time?**

**Whenever. Hey, how far is the nearest grocery store from here?** she texted me.

**A couple of miles I think. Why? No food in the house?**

**We have cereal, but no milk.** She explained.

**We have milk over here. Come on over. My mom's home, but she'll be asleep for a few more hours at the least.** I offered.

**You are being way too nice to me.** She told me.

**Do you want me to be a rude neighbor? Cause I can do that if you want…** I offered.

**No, no, I like nice neighbors. But I just do not understand why you are being so nice to me. You do not even know me.** She tried to reason.

**Hey, I'm just a nice guy, trying to be a good neighbor. Plus, I thought we really clicked yesterday. I feel like I've known you for years now, not less than twenty four hours.** I told her honestly.

**Yes, I feel the same. So, about that milk…**

**Haha the door's open. I'll even provide free silverware.** I joked.

She didn't text me back, but a minute later, there was a knock on the door. I opened it and saw her standing there and she looked even more beautiful than she had yesterday.

"I was hungry, so I did not change. I hope you do not mind," she said as I opened the door wider so that she could come in.

"Don't worry, I'm in my 'hanging around the house' clothes. And I hadn't even noticed until you said anything. Besides, you look fine," I told her. And she did, her curly brown hair was pulled back in a low pony tail at the base of her neck and for clothes she was wearing what looked like boys black sweat pants and a white camisole.

We walked into the kitchen and I got the milk out of the fridge and told her where the silverware was. I went out into the living room where I'd left my bowl and brought it back into the kitchen to get more. She had finished with hers before I had and was walking over to the table in the dining room when I said, "Nah, we'll eat in the living room. Abby and I always do."

She followed me in and sat down on the opposite side of the couch, sitting crossed-legged and facing me as I did the same.

"So," I said, "why are you up so early?"

"Ari and my father left at seven and woke me up to tell me that they were leaving. What about you?" she asked.

"The sun. I forgot to close my shade last night and my window faces where the sun rises, so if I forget, it wakes me up because it's too bright in my room," I explained.

"So you really have nothing to do today?" Ziva asked me.

"Pretty much. Abby's at Tim's house, and since my mom worked the late shift last night, she'll be asleep until noon. I have a car, but no place to go," I said.

"Abby slept over Tim's house?" Ziva asked. "My father would never let me do that. My brother would not either."

"Abby and Tim are different than normal couples. They've been friends since we were all ten and they started going out three years ago. How many fights do you think they could have had in three years?" I asked Ziva.

"Uumm, I do not know. Maybe five or six?" she guessed.

"Try one," I said.

"Only one in three years?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, I know right. It's crazy, but it's completely true. And yeah, she stays over there all the time, his mother loves her," I told her.

"That is sweet, though. I think everyone wants something like that," Ziva said.

"It's alright. I swear he's gonna be that kid that proposes on graduation day," I told her. "And Abby would totally say yes. She loves him."

"What do you think about them? Do you approve?" Ziva asked.

"If she's happy, than I'm happy for her. But if Tim ever hurts her, I'll kick his ass. Is that a good answer?" I said.

"It is respectable. Do you like Tim?"

"You're all with the questions this morning," I commented. "Yeah, he's a good guy. He'd never push Abby into anything she doesn't want to do, unlike most guys. And he loves her, so, yeah, I like him."

"And someone has to ask questions or the conversation dies. But I still cannot believe she sleeps over there," Ziva said, smiling.

"At first it was a little weird, but Abby will be Abby, and she's a little strange to begin with. But now mom and I are used to it and she loves Tim's mom and Tim's mom can't wait to have her has a daughter-in-law, because we all know it's gonna happen." I laughed.

"See? That is sweet! I do not know about your parents, but my mother hated her in-laws. My father's family does not like her either, so Abby should see it as a blessing that she likes Tim's mother," Ziva told me.

"I guess," I said. "I've never really thought about it."

"You have never had a long-term girlfriend?" Ziva asked me.

"You've been in a long-term relationship?" I asked.

"The longest I went out with a boy was for seven months. We were fifteen and had been friends since we were little. Afterward, we went back to being friends, as we had been before," she told me. "Your turn."

"No, I've never been in a long-term relationship. I've had a few girlfriends, but nothing serious," I said.

"That surprises me about you," Ziva said, cocking her head to the side, looking at me.

"Why?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know.

"The way you have been, with me these past two days, it would seem like you would have no trouble finding a girlfriend," she told me.

"Girls always seem to come onto me, but they're more of the… let's just call them skanks wanting to get laid," I told her.

"And they think you are the guy to go to?" Ziva asked.

"Okay, just because you're wondering right now, wondering if I'm like a guy-whore, I've never gone that far. One of my girlfriends kept pushing me and pushing me to, but I wasn't ready. And I'm still not. I respect you girls, and if anything happened, I don't think I'm ready to be a father," I told her honestly, opening up to Ziva, this girl I'd just met yesterday, the way I've never really done with anybody except Abby before.

"Samuel was the same, but only while we were together. When we went back to being friends and he saw that I did not want to go the whole way with him, he backed off a bit," Ziva told me. Somehow, I had a feeling, just a little hunch, that there was more to the story than that, but I wasn't about to pry.

We finished our cereal, but didn't move from the couch. My body was tired, after all the moving yesterday and picking Abby up just to drop her off somewhere else and not getting to bed until late. Ziva looked very awake though, but she couldn't have gotten more sleep than I had.

"So, what do you want to do today?" I asked her.

"I do not know what there is to do around here," she said.

"We should probably pick something indoors, because it's supposed to be really hot today, in the nineties," I told her.

She laughed. "Tony, do you know anything about Israel?" she asked me.

"Um, I know that the capital is Tel Aviv. Other than that, not much," I said.

"It is a desert. It is always hot there. The weather today here is normal there, and it's even hotter there right now," she told me.

"Okay, sorry, changing the subject. I know what we're going to do today!" I told her.

"What?" she asked.

"Two words, David: laser tag," I told her, grinning.

**A/N: So, what did you think? Review worthy? Send anything: favorite lines, parts, things I should add, things you thought were funny, things you want to see more of! The chapters will hopefully get to see a little more action, these are just starting chapters! Please review guys! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Confession, I hadn't actually planned on doing a chapter where they played laser tag, but just mentioning it or something. But since a lot of reviews said that they wanted to see it, I said what the heck and this was what I got! I actually liked how this came out, so thanks to everyone who said they wanted to see it! Like I said before, I don't have the time to update every day, but I'm going to try for every week. My life is getting crazier by the day, but it should be settled down again by later May, if I'm lucky. On with the chapter then! Please review! Thanks guys!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it, such as characters. I do own this plot line and anything I choose to change. I'm trying to stay as real to the show as I can, knowing what little we know about these characters in their teens!**

As we put on our vests, Ziva asked me, "Can you explain the rules one more time?"

"Okay, so there are three teams: blue, red, and green. You and I have on vests with blue lights, so we're part of the blue team. The goal is to tag out people on the other two teams by shooting their vests with our laser guns before they get us. Understand?" I explained again.

"Yes, I get it," she said.

I laughed. "Ziva, it's just a game," I told her.

She was about to say something when a bell rang, signaling everyone to go into the room where we were playing. It was a huge two story room with obstacles everywhere to hide behind. When everyone was in, the lights went out and were replaced by strobe lights and music, giving the black walls an interesting effect.

"Wow…" I heard Ziva say from next to me.

"Pretty cool, huh?" I asked, smiling. "Stay close. I'll watch your back if you watch mine."

"Okay," she said.

We cautiously made our way to the second floor, looking for allies or enemies around every corner. When we got to the top and rounded yet another corner, we saw three guys and a girl standing there, all in blue vests, their laser guns pointed at us like ours were at them. They lowered theirs when they saw we were all on the same team.

"Hey," the tallest guy said, stepping forward, "I'm Jason." 

"I'm Tony," I said.

"I'm Ryan and this is Ben and Mel," another guy said, standing next to Jason.

"This is Ziva," I said, introducing her.

"Okay, we're not gonna do well just standing here," Jason said. You could tell he was older than the others, but not by much. "We'll split off into groups of two, each taking part of the upstairs. Tony, Ziva, you two take the far end. Ben, Mel, you take the middle. Ry, come with me and we'll take this end."

We all split up, Ziva and I walking towards the far end. Adrenaline was coursing through me and I was on alert for any movement. Crossing over a bridge, I spotted twp moving red targets on the first floor and pointed them out to Ziva. We took them out before they knew what hit them and ran for cover when they started looking around for someone who shot them.

There was a hole, just big enough to see through, in the wall behind me and I took a look through it and saw what looked like Ben taking down someone from the green team. When I looked back at Ziva, she was tagging someone out through the hole in the wall behind her. She seemed like a natural, though this was her first time playing.

Fifteen minutes later, the game was over and the lights went back on. Ziva and I blinked in the sudden change of light and headed downstairs, ecstatic. We'd each only been tagged out a handful of times and we'd gotten a lot of people. When we got into the room where our vests went, we saw Jason and Ryan taking theirs off too. They looked different in the light. Jason was at least a few years older than me with blonde hair and brown eyes. Ryan had very tanned skin, light brown hair, and brown eyes. They both smiled at us when we walked up to them.

"How'd you do?" Ryan asked us.

"Great, how about you?"

"Not too bad. I think I got tagged out more than I tagged, but it's just a game. Of course Jason was awesome. He spends practically all summer here," Ryan laughed.

Ben and Mel came in then with smiles on their faces. "Guys, we were awesome out there!" Ben had long brown hair that was stuck to his face in places. Mel was the shortest of the group with brown hair pulled back into a messy pony tail. I figured we all looked the worse for wear right then, it had been hot in that room and we'd done a lot of running around.

"Hey, are we gonna team up again next game?" I asked as we all walked out of the room into the main room, which was an arcade.

"Sounds good to me," Ben said.

"Yeah," Ryan said while Mel and Jason just nodded. We had to wait twenty minutes until we could play again because you couldn't play two games in a row. Ziva and I grabbed drinks while the four of them headed over to play games.

"So, what did you think?" I asked her.

"That was so much fun! Thank you for bringing me, Tony," she said with a smile on her face.

"Hey it was either this or sit around the house all day," I said.

Three games later, Ziva and I headed out. We were both tired and almost out of cash between the both of us. We'd played four games for twenty five dollars each and had each gotten pizza and sodas for lunch. In a one of the games, the six of us had taken three different color vests and played against each other. I'd been on a team with Ben that game and he was pretty good. Ziva had said that Ryan had hit on her during that game and she'd shot him a few times 'by accident' even though they were on the same team.

When we got home around two, I pulled up in front of Ziva's house to let her out. There was a car parked in front and she said it was her father's rental.

"Thank you for everything, Tony," she said. She reached over the center console and hugged me. As she pulled away, she kissed me lightly on the cheek.

"I'll, um, see you," I said, blushing a little, but it wasn't as much as she was.

"Okay, bye," she said, opening her door and stepping out into the heat. I waited until she was in the house to pull away and park in my driveway.

When I got in the house, I saw my mom in the living room, reading a magazine. She looked up when she saw me come in.

"Hi, Tony. Where were you?" she asked.

"Oh, I was out playing laser tag with the girl next door, Ziva. We were bored, so we decided to go cause we couldn't think of anything else to do," I explained.

"That was nice of you. She's the one who just moved in, right?" mom asked.

"Yeah, that's her," I said. Mom already knew there were no other people named Ziva on our street, but she asked anyway.

"Where's your sister?" mom called to me. I was in the kitchen getting something to drink.

"Tim's," I told her.

"Do you know when she's coming home?" mom asked.

"No, I have no idea," I said.

"Tony," mom said to me. I had been on my way upstairs, but I went back to the living room.

"Yeah, mom?" I asked.

"Your father called," she said.

"Well, that's great for him. I don't want to talk to him. And Abby doesn't either," I told her angrily. My dad left us when Abby and I were nine and called once or twice a year, always promising to take us our somewhere. We'd learned years ago not to expect him to follow through. If he ever called us on our cell phones, we'd hang up without even answering.

"He really wants to talk to you, Tony," mom said. She'd never gotten why Abby and I gave up on dad, though we'd tried to explain countless times.

"Well I don't want to talk to him or about him. He's out of my life and he's not coming back in," I said.

"He's in the hospital, Tony," mom said.

That made me stop short. "The hospital?" I asked.

"Yes, they found a tumor in his brain. They found it too late. They told him he has a couple months, at best. He wants to see you and Abby, he begged me to send you," mom told me.

I said nothing, just went upstairs and took a shower because I felt gross covered in sweat. When I got out, I threw on boxers and a pair of shorts and stretched out on my bed. I grabbed my phone and texted Abby.

**Hey, Abs. Dad's in the hospital. They say he has a couple months left.** I sent to her.

Almost immediately I got a reply. **Omg! Are you kidding?**

**It's what mom said. Apparently he begged mom to send us.** I texted her.

**Are we going?** She asked.

**Do we want to? **I texted back.

**This weekend?** She asked.

…**Okay.** I sent back. Then I texted her **Hey, Abs, mom wants to know when you'll be home.**

**Tonight or tomorrow.** I got back.

**Okay.** I sent then put my phone down.

**A/N: Whoa! There's something nobody expected! Please review with favorite line/part/something I should add/something you want to see/anything! Thanks guys! I really like your input on this! There should be another chapter coming in a week or two, like I said before, I don't have the time to update every day! But I'm going to try and update every week if I can! Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! One week, one chapter, as promised. This would have been up yesterday, but I didn't get home until about an hour and a half ago and I kept getting sidetracked. It took me a little while to figure out how I wanted this chapter to go and then even longer to get it down on paper and then finally typed up. But I'm pretty happy with it, even if it is short. I really enjoy writing long chapters, but sometimes there comes a point where you stop and realize that you've ended it in the right place. This is definitely one of those chapters.**

**Please review! The feedback I'm getting on this is awesome and I'd love some more! I'm open to anonymous reviews, so anyone can send one. Even if it's just a few words, I do want to hear what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it, such as characters. I do own this plot line and anything I choose to change. I'm trying to stay as real to the show as I can, knowing what little we know about these characters in their teens!**

I was in a daze. Dad and I had butt heads ever since I'd figured out what kind of man he really was. I'd done my best to avoid talking to him since then. But soon he wouldn't even be around at all and I didn't know how I felt about that.

I was only going to see him for Abby's sake, not my own. I didn't particularly want to see him. I didn't get why mom wanted me to see the man so badly, he'd never done anything to benefit the three of us, except leaving. But I wanted to make mom and Abby happy, so I'd go.

I didn't want to think about this anymore, it just hurt my head. I'd put my school work off all summer, so I decided to do it all to get my mind off of things. I had to read two books for English, do a math packet, and read a book for history and write a two page essay on it. I'd been dreading everything all summer, but I knew I had to do everything eventually.

I settled down on my bed with one of my English books and started reading. Mom had gotten our books at the beginning of the summer and they'd been sitting ominously on my desk for two months.

I read through dinnertime, not that it mattered. We only ate as a family about once a week, if that. Abby still wasn't home and mom didn't check on me. I finished the book around nine and set it back on the desk, feeling slightly accomplished, but knowing I wasn't close to being done.

My window looked over my side yard and to Ziva's window, a coincidence I hadn't noticed until I'd gotten home from dropping Abby at Tim's last night. Her light was still on and I thought I saw a shadow moving around, so I decided to text her. I needed to talk to someone right now, feel someone else's presence.

**Hey I'm coming to pick you up. Be ready in a few. Wear a sweatshirt.** I sent to her.

**Okay.** Was all I got back. No why or what's up or how come. Just okay.

I grabbed my keys, threw a sweatshirt on over my head, and left my room. I walked down the hall and knocked on my mom's bedroom door.

"Come in," she said from inside.

I stuck my head in the doorway. "Mom, I'm going out," I told her.

"Are you coming back tonight?" she asked me. She never asked where I was going or when I'd be back, like any other parent would do. My friends said they envied me because of that, I could go out whenever and wherever I wanted. Sometimes I envied them for the same reasons, that they had someone who would worry about them.

"Yeah," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I don't know when, but I'll be back later."

"Okay, have fun, honey," she said. I closed the door and went downstairs.

When I pulled up in front of Ziva's house, she came right out when I stopped and she climbed into the passenger seat. Her hair was left down, all curly and long, falling along the hood and shoulders of my sweatshirt. She was wearing shorts that you could just see below the hem of the sweatshirt, which was long on her because of her small size. And she had running sneakers on her feet.

"I'm surprised you're not sick of me yet," I joked as I pulled away from the curb and headed down the street.

"Well your message did not give me much of a choice. Where are we going, Tony?" she asked.

"I haven't decided yet," I told her honestly. "I just needed to get out of the house."

"What is wrong?" she asked. I could feel her looking at me, but I kept my eyes on the road in front of me.

"What do you mean? I'm fine," I told her, giving her a brief smile before turning back to the street.

"No, you are not," she said bluntly.

We rode in silence for a minute, both of us lost in our own thoughts. "How do you deal with it all?" I suddenly asked.

"With what?" she asked me.

"Your mom and sister. How can you seem so… okay about it?" I asked her, pulling into the parking lot of a park for little kids. It was about two miles away from my house and Abby and I used to play there all the time when we were younger. It hadn't been my destination, but it was as good as anything else I could think up right now. We got out and started walking around the park before she answered me.

"I have learned to deal with it, but I am not as together as I may seem on the outside. Tali and I were very close, with an age difference of only a few years. And of course I was close to my mother. I miss them both terribly, of course, and the pain never really goes away, but you learn to deal with it. What is wrong, Tony?" she asked again.

"My dad went to the hospital not too long ago, I guess it was just routine or whatever. They found a tumor in his brain. It's terminal. He only has a few months to live," I said.

"Oh, Tony, I am so sorry," she said, looping her left arm through my right.

"But I don't know how I really feel about him or it or anything that's happening or will happen," I explained.

"I remember what you said about him, about not really liking him, so it is understandable. But, you have to think, he is your father. He is half of you," Ziva said. "Are you going to see him?"

"I am, but only because mom and Abby want me to. If they didn't, I don't know whether I'd go at all," I said.

"I do not know if this means anything, but I think you should go. Maybe you two will make up and you could give him a nice send off," Ziva said. "I think he would like that," she said, her voice half-breaking on the last word.

"Ziva?" I questioned. She didn't answer. "Zee, are you okay?" I asked.

"My mother and I had a fight on her last day. Before she left, I told her that I wanted nothing to do with our family, that I wanted out. I know it was not my fault she and my sister died that day, but it felt like it did," she told her, her voice slightly shaky.

"Ziva, it wasn't your fault," I said. She just nodded, not looking at me. I leaned down slightly, wrapping my arms around her waist and holding her close. She stiffened for a second, as though unsure of what to do, then she reached up and put her arms tentatively around my neck, her head resting on my shoulder. "I'm sorry," I whispered in her ear. "I didn't mean to bring all of this back up to the surface."

"You have nothing to apologize for," she told me. "It is I who am sorry."

"You don't have anything to apologize for either," I told her.

"I did not mean to break down like this. I thought I was over it, mostly anyway," she said.

"Ziva, they were your family. I'd be worried if this didn't upset you at least a little," I said, pulling back so I could look into her eyes, they were shining with tears that she didn't want to let fall. "It's okay to cry for them, Zee," I told her.

She just nodded, pulling me closer and burying her head in my neck. It made me wonder how much she'd actually been hugged at all since half of her family died. I held her tight and placed a kiss on the top of her head, then her forehead. The second one made her look up.

"You are stalling," she accused.

"Stalling for what?" I asked.

"This," she said and kissed me on the lips.

**A/N: So who was expecting that ending? It's something I've wanted to write in, but I didn't want it to be too soon, then I realized that it had to be. They've known each other for , what, 30 hours and they just had their first kiss. But, I mean, it's Tony and Ziva, regular rules don't really apply to them, you know?**

**Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for the next chapter where Tony and Abby go to visit Tony Senior? I have a few, but I don't know if I like them a lot. I'm open to pretty anything anyone wants to see/read/whatever, but keep in mind people, this rating isn't planning on going above T, so keep your ideas that way. Sorry, that was a necessary warning. But please, send some feedback on favorite parts/lines/scenes/anything like that! Thanks guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! I know, it took me a while to get this up, but I've had so much going on in my life and, to be completely honest with you, I forgot I had this just sitting on my flash drive. I wrote this in school and so I put it on there to take home and promptly forgot about it. And I have a history term paper due in a couple weeks and I've barely made a dent in it. And there's a lot going on in my family and my bf takes up a lot of my time as well. But I really didn't mean to put this off for so long! **

**Well, I don't really have a lot to say about this chapter. There are no major things going on and it's pretty much a filler chapter, but I swear to you all that something interesting is going to happen soon! Sorry, my bf sort of inspired this chapter, as did reading Dear John. Haha, so sorry if it's not everything you've been imagining. I'll try to have another chapter up soon! Reviews would be awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it, such as characters. I do own this plot line and anything I choose to change. I'm trying to stay as real to the show as I can, knowing what little we know about these characters in their teens!**

-break-

Ziva pulled away first, but when she looked up at me, her expression wasn't angry or resentful. She had a glint in her eyes that wasn't from crying, and a smile on her face. I was smiling at her too and neither of us made an attempt to move from our position with my arms around her waist and hers on my shoulders.

Truthfully, I was glad she'd been so forward; I wasn't sure if I'd have the nerve to kiss her first. It had surprised me a little that she had, but I didn't regret it.

"So, what now?" I asked her.

"I do not know. I am sorry, was that too…?" she tried to search for the right word, but came up empty.

"Forward?" I asked, supplying a word.

"Yes. Was it?" she asked, blushing a little.

"No," I promised her. "It was perfect."

She blushed deeper at that. "Did it help?" she asked.

I pretended to think about it. "Yeah," I said after a few seconds. "I think so. Do you feel any better?"

"A bit," she said.

"I'm sorry for asking you to come out so late. I just needed to talk to someone and-" she cut me off.

"I was never mad about it, Tony. I did not, nor do I now, regret coming," she told me.

We started walking back to the car and I, either boldly or stupidly, took her hand in mine. She didn't hesitate at the contact that time and laced her small fingers through mine. It gave me a warm feeling inside and I squeezed her hand lightly.

When we got back to the car, I headed for her side to open the door for her. It was cheesy, but chivalry wasn't dead and I wanted to prove that. She smiled in response and slid into the passenger seat. I closed the door when she was in and walked around the front of the car to the driver's side.

I slid in, but didn't start the car right away. I just looked at Ziva and she looked back at me, studying my face.

"Okay, this is going to sound amazingly clichéd, but what does this mean for us?" I asked her.

"What do you want it to mean?" she asked, answering my question with a question and smiling.

"I don't want to push you into anything you're not comfortable with," I told her. "If you want to just stay friends, we can do that. If you want it to be something more…"

Ziva put her hand up on the center console and took my hand in hers. "I would not be opposed to 'us' becoming something more," she said, studying our hands.

I smiled even bigger at that than I already was. "I think we could make that work," I said.

She smiled and then her smile turned into a yawn. It was sort of my fault that Ziva was getting no sleep, keeping her up late last night and now tonight, after hanging out for a good portion of both days.

"Let's get back," I said.

"I am sorry," she said.

"Zee, it's fine. Everybody needs their sleep, and it's kinda my fault that you aren't getting any," I said, taking my key out of my pocket and starting the car.

It took all of a minute and a half to get back to her house and I stopped outside. It was a little awkward, not knowing whether I should kiss her goodnight or if that was too soon.

"I will, um, see you tomorrow?" she said, phrasing it more as a question.

I smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow if you want to see me tomorrow. I'm surprised you're not sick of me yet," I joked.

She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, then."

"Goodnight," I said as she opened the door and started getting out.

"Goodnight, Tony," she said.

I waited till she was inside and then drove the few yards to my driveway where I pulled in and got out, noticing the light on in the living room that hadn't been on when I left.

I walked in the door, locking it behind me and jumped when a voice said, "Hey, Tony."

"Hey, Abs," I said, my heart still racing.

"So, where were you?" she asked, not accusingly, just wondering.

"I had to get out of the house," I explained.

"Oh, okay. It was just weird, I got home and our car was gone. You don't usually go out late," she said.

"I didn't think you'd be coming home. I mean, you weren't home by dinner, so I thought you wouldn't be around until tomorrow. You don't need the car, do you?" I asked.

"Nope, I'm good. Are you okay?" she asked me, scrutinizing my face as if looking hard enough would give her an answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, not knowing why I didn't tell her about Ziva and I right away.

"You look really happy," she said, her eyes not moving from my face.

"Okay…" I said.

"Well what happened? Did you kiss Ziva?" she asked.

I was a little shocked, but knew I shouldn't be. Abby had a way of figuring things out faster than anyone. She wanted to be a scientist one day. "Uumm, yeah," I said, smiling despite myself.

"Oh, my God! Tony! I'm so happy for you two!" she walked the few steps over to me and hugged me the only way Abby knows how: tightly. "So now you guys can double with Timmy and me! This is so awesome!"

I smiled at my sister. "Yeah, Abs, we'll see. Look, I'm pretty tired, so I'm gonna head upstairs. Night," I said to her.

"Night!" she said happily, sitting back down on the couch and turning on the TV. Abby claimed the best crime shows and movies were on at night, so she was always up until about four am during the summer watching them. And then she'd be up and bouncing around by nine am, thought she'd barely gotten any sleep. I'd lived with that habit of hers since we were little, and I still didn't understand how she did it.

-break-

**A/N: So that's it for this chapter. It's kinda short, but I thought that now wouldn't be a bad time to end it. I don't want to over-stay my welcome with some of these chapters. As I said above, I'm going to try to have another chapter up soon, but there are no guarantees when that's going to be because a week from today (4/15/11), my family and I are moving houses and I don't know when Wi-Fi will be set up there. And we won't have cable, so I have to go over a friend's house on Tuesday nights to watch NCIS because I can't just watch it late. She usually comes over my house on Tuesdays, but for the rest of the season, we're switching houses. I owe her large time. **

**Please review! They brighten my day and make me smile like an idiot! If anyone has any ideas of things they want to see or something, I'm open to anything because I'm writing this 100% solo, no beta help, as you can probably tell from the random mistakes in this, which I'm assuming I have because nobody's perfect, no matter how hard they try. If you want to leave your favorite line/part/something you didn't like/anything else you can think of, that'd be great! I write this for the small amount of you reading, so feel free to speak your minds in reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi guys! I know, it's been a while since I've updated this, but I have a good reason! Life got really crazy all of a sudden and things got in the way and I wasn't very inspired to write this. I wrote about a page yesterday and then three and a half today for this. It's been crazy, but here ya go! Hope you like it! Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it, such as characters. I do own this plot line and anything I choose to change. I'm trying to stay as real to the show as I can, knowing what little we know about these characters in their teens!**

O.o

"Are you ready for this?" Abby asked me.

It was seven am on Saturday morning, the day we'd decided to go see dad. He was in the hospital up in Boston, though he lived in New York the last time anyone checked, Boston had better facilities. Abby and I decided to drive up and spend the day with him. From our house, it was about seven hour drive. We'd find some place to stay for the night near the hospital and then see him again on Sunday, if everything went okay today.

"I think so. So I'm driving now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'll take the wheel in a few hours. If that's okay?" she said, phrasing it more like a question.

"No, that's fine," I told her.

Before leaving the driveway, I set my iPod up so that we wouldn't have to deal with commercials on the radio, which I always hated. Having over a thousand songs on it, I figured we'd be good for a while. Abby wasn't a bad person to take on a road trip, she always had something interesting to talk about. And I'd barely seen her since I'd picked her up because she'd been over at Tim's.

We were quiet until we hit the highway; that was when we started a conversation. "So, how was camp?" I asked.

"Oh it was great! I made a bunch of friends and we did a bunch of stuff everyday! It was so cool! And, since it was a forensic science camp, we got to work on, like, actual forensic cases. And they had all the real equipment and stuff," she gushed.

"You worked on actual cases? Like, murder cases?" I asked her.

"Yeah, they were cold cases and stuff and it was really cool. And it wasn't just any camp, the things we did counted for college credits and stuff like that, so if I did a good job, I could get scholarships or something. We get results in a few weeks and I'm really anxious about it," she said.

"That's so cool, Abs. I bet you did great," I said.

"Thanks. So, you're okay with doing this? We can still turn around," she offered.

"I was talking to Ziva about this a couple of days ago. She's the one who convinced me that dad and I should make some kind of amends. Give him a nice send-off. Are you okay with this? If you don't want to go, nobody's holding a gun to your head," I told her.

"I agree with Ziva. Plus, I don't want to be bitter or have regrets that I didn't get to say goodbye to him," Abby said.

"Good philosophy," I said.

"No regrets? Yeah, it is pretty good, huh?" she smiled. "So, you told Ziva about all of this?" she asked.

"It was a couple of days ago. I needed someone to talk to and I needed to get out of the house. I picked her up and we went to the park down the street and walked around for a little while. You remember, the night I came in late?" I told her.

"The night you kissed her!" Abby exclaimed.

"Other way around, Abs," I said, smiling a little at the memory.

"No way! Okay, spill! Tell me everything right now!" she shouted.

"It was nothing, really. We were walking around the park and she was talking about her family and how she blamed herself for her mom and sister's death and I told her it wasn't her fault. I hugged her and then she kissed me," I said, downplaying it and skimming over some of it. It was Ziva's personal life and I didn't know if she'd mind if I told Abby or not.

"Aw! Only you two! So what happened to her mom and sister?" Abby asked.

"It's not my story to tell, Abs," I said. "But that doesn't mean you can bug her about it," I warned.

"Tony, I would never do that. I feel so bad for her though. She lost half of her family," she said.

"She doesn't want pity, Abby. Don't go treating her any differently. Do you want pity from your friends because we'll probably lose dad before school starts?" I asked her.

"I get it, Tony. Can we please not talk about dad right now?" she asked.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about then?"

O.o

For the next six hours, we talked about little things, stuff Abby did at camp, basketball, and college, which was looming in the too-near future. When we were about half an hour out of Boston, Abby voiced the question that had been on both of our minds.

"What do you think he's going to look like?"

"I don't know, Abs. I don't really remember what he looked like the last time I saw him," I confessed.

"He looked like you. I look like mom and you look like him," she said. She had long ago kicked off her shoes and was now curled up in a ball against the passenger door. We'd switched off in Pennsylvania, then back again in northern Connecticut. Now that we were nearing the city, the traffic was light, considering it was about one in the afternoon.

Mass General was on Fruit Street, not too far off the highway. When we pulled up, we stared at it for a moment, knowing dad was in there, somewhere, probably hooked up to a bunch of machines. Ten minutes later, we finally found a place to park and got out of the car and stretched.

"You ready for this?" I asked Abby.

"Yeah," she said.

We walked to the elevator to get out of the parking garage and hit the button. When the doors opened a minute later, a small family came out, with a man, a woman, and a kid who looked to be about ten with a bright blue cast on his leg, hobbling out on crutches. It already had a bunch of signatures on it, though it looked new.

"Nice cast," Abby said to him, bending down a little. "Can I sign it?" she asked, even though she didn't even know this kid.

"Sure," the kid said.

"My name's Abby. What's yours?" she asked.

"Anthony," he said.

"That's my brother's name!" she said, smiling as she took the sharpie from him so she could sign. "You already have a lot of signatures on here. That's cool."

"The doctors all know him by his first name. We're here a lot," his father said, smiling.

"Same with my brother. When we were little, he was always getting hurt and breaking things," Abby said, capping the marker and handing it back to little Anthony. "Thanks for letting me sign. I love signing casts. I think it's so cool. Have a good day!"

"Thanks. You too," the kid said, smiling back at her.

"What was that about?" I asked Abby as we stepped onto the elevator and she hit the down button.

"What was what about?" she asked.

"You randomly signing that kid's cast," I said.

"I figured he's probably not had the best day ever, so I decided to try and make him smile," she said. "He was a cutie. _And_ his name was Anthony! He was like a mini you!"

"Come on, let's go find out where dad is," I said, getting out of the elevator, walking though the main doors, and heading towards the reception desk.

The receptionist looked up when she saw us standing in front of her. "Hello, how may I help you?" she asked.

"We're looking for our father, Anthony DiNozzo," I said.

"Okay, hold on," she said, turning to her computer and typing in his name. "Okay, he's up on the fifth floor. I'll have someone meet you up there," she told us.

"Thank you," I said, wondering why we needed someone to meet us up there.

When we got off the elevator, a doctor was lounging near the nurses' station, which was about ten feet in front of the elevator doors.

"Hi," the man said. He was in his late twenties or early thirties, blonde hair, and brown eyes. "I'm Doctor Jeff Craig and I've been working very closely with your father and a few other doctors trying to help him. Are you his children?"

"Yeah, he's our father. I'm Tony and this is Abby," I introduced. We shook hands with Dr. Craig and he started leading us down the hall a little.

"How much do you know about what's going on with your dad?" he asked.

"Not much. We just know that he has a brain tumor that wasn't found on time," Abby said.

"Yes, that's the basis of it. It's inoperable because it's too large by this point. Your father isn't in a lot of pain; we have him on morphine and a few other drugs that help with the pain. It's all we can do at this point, keep him comfortable. I'm very sorry about this," he said.

"It's not your fault, Doc. Our father isn't one who goes to the hospital easily. He's a fighter," I said.

"That he is," the doctor said. "I'm surprised he even made it this long. He's been here for a few weeks, normally by this point, the patient is too far gone, but I think he was waiting to say goodbye to you two. He talks about you a lot."

I bit my tongue, not wanting to ruin the doctor's view of my father as a good man. He should have at least one person in this world believing that.

"You two can go in. He was awake right before I left to get you two," Dr. Craig said, stopping in front of a door that said 515.

"Thank you," I said.

I tentatively opened the door. It was a two patient room, but only one bed was occupied. In it, there was a man, skinnier than I remembered him looking, only a little hair on his head. His face was a little sunken, like he'd lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. He turned his head a little to the side to see who was at the door.

Abby gasped and ran to the side of his bed. "Hi, daddy," she said, like no time had passed, like we were meeting him for lunch, like we'd seen him in the past eight years.

"Abby? Is that you, baby?' he asked. His voice sounded a little weaker than I remembered, but it still sounded like him. He was hooked up to at least four machines and he had a tube going up his nose to help him breathe.

"Yeah, it's me. It's been a long time," she said.

"Too long," he agreed. She took his hand and held it in her own.

I cleared my throat, stepping forward a bit. "Uh, hi, dad," I said.

"Junior. How are you, son?" he asked.

"I'm okay," I said, swallowing a lump in my throat. I didn't think this visit was going to make me emotional, but it did.

"I missed you, son," he said.

"You too, dad."

O.o

**A/N: So how was it? Hopefully it was worth a review! Please leave something, if only a few words. I need feedback on this! Thanks guys! Hopefully I'll have another chapter up soon!**


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